Arokia Rajiv will compete in his second Olympic Games in Tokyo, after participating in the men's 4x400m relay at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
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Tokyo 2020 has been the talk of the town for quite some time, and the fact that it was delayed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic only adds to the excitement surrounding the Games. The pandemic brought the practice to a halt on various occasions during the course of the past year, thereby affecting many athletes mentally. Sprinter Arokia Rajiv was no exception as he opened up about the difficulties that the athletes had to overcome in order to maintain their physical form. The 30-year old Arjuna Awardee and 4×400 meter sprinter, Rajiv talks on SportTiger’s special interview series “Mission Gold” as the relay team marches on to represent India at the quadrennial mega event.
“The pandemic made us mentally disturbed, somehow we have managed to fight against it but it had left its impact on our minds. We had regular practices but the sudden imposition of lockdown took us to zero as we couldn’t go on the ground and when we started again from the scratch another lockdown was imposed and we were back to square one. But with Olympics being so close in front of our sights, we were determined to get ourselves through a little trouble to get there,” he added.
“We tried to keep ourselves fit with whatever exercises we could do at home. After a few months, AFI sent us to Patiala where we practised for a year to prepare for competitions. Meanwhile, the number of Covid-19 cases in India kept increasing and many countries banned to and fro flights from India and hence we couldn’t get opportunities to participate in many competitions.”
Arokia Rajiv will compete in his second Olympic Games in Tokyo, after participating in the men’s 4x400m relay at the 2016 Rio Olympics. He said, “I feel very good having qualified for Tokyo Olympics. Though there weren’t any competitions in 2018 but were the best performers in 2019 which ensured a top 16 finish for us. And again there was a break in 2020, but in 2021, we participated in a few competitions and clocked in good timings resulting in our qualification for Tokyo Olympics.”
“I am very happy that we have qualified for Tokyo 2020, now our aim is to perform to the best of our abilities and to give our 100 per cent on track. It’s a big event and we lacked experience the last time around. We are working on our weak points and learning from the mistakes we committed in the past and improving them. We are going there as a team and we have to work together. I’m the senior-most in the team, so I’ve more responsibilities. I have to give my best and also bring a medal for the country.”
Rajiv also went on to recall his meeting with legendary late athlete Milkha Singh, who passed away last month. He elaborated, “I had the opportunity to meet Milkha sir once. He motivated us during his visit. I have also watched his movie which was highly motivational and we learned a lot from his mistakes. He was a huge figure in the world of athletics and a really down to earth person.”
Arokia Rajiv is positive of India’s chances to bring home more medals than they did in the 2012 London Games when the country won six Olympic medals. He concluded, “We will definitely beat our 2012 London Olympics medal count in Tokyo 2020.”
